REVELSTOKE ROAD
Through intelligent spatial planning and a creative design approach, our residential scheme on Revelstoke Road in Wandsworth increases the density of a redundant suburban site, reanimates the streetscape, and encourages social diversity. The project has been recognised as an exemplar, small-scale scheme that addresses the rising demand for housing in London.
“This scheme is exactly the sort of development Wandsworth Borough Council should be encouraging.”
Comprising two and three-bedroom family homes, the three-storey building is a contemporary interpretation of the London townhouse and an example of how sensitive infill development can increase housing densities in the city suburbs while remaining within the context of the local scale and character.
It’s these smaller-scale interventions – such as increasing densities on infill sites, or the re-appropriation of redundant commercial properties – that can make a real contribution towards increased housing capacity in the city suburbs. Revelstoke Road’s mix of two and three bedroom homes offer housing for couples, young families and empty-nesters alike, bringing new diversity to the area’s existing housing stock and demographic.
The project sits of on the site of a redundant carpet warehouse and its design responds considerately to the surrounding architectural identity by aligning with the street’s horizontal and vertical rhythms. The distribution of volumes, along with the ridge and eaves heights, match those of the neighbouring properties. Repeated bays, gently offset from the centre, divide the façade of each townhouse element into two asymmetric forms, creating visual interest at street level.
Five duplex units are accessed from individual entrances at ground level. Density was achieved on site without compromising personal space by placing bedrooms at lower ground floor level, with living quarters above. At the crown of the building, four single-storey flats with balcony terraces share a communal circulation atrium. Recessed and clad in London stock brick, these act as visual dividers to break up the linear façade.
Positioning the bedrooms at the front and rear of the buildings allows residents to benefit from generous amounts of natural light, while lightwells pull ample daylight into the lower ground floor. Living quarters are enclosed within the projecting orange of the Corten steel-clad volumes that mimic the traditional bay-windows of neighbouring properties. Bathrooms are located in the centre of the plan to enable an efficient stacking of services.
The houses were designed to directly relate to the contrasting and varied context. Traditional brickwork and paving is combined with contemporary double-height glazing, dark metal reveals and Corten volumes. The weathered Corten steel cladding draws out the warmth of the contemporary London stock brick; complementing the palette of the nearby Victorian terraces and later architectural additions, while creating a distinctive identity for the scheme.
Learn more about our commitment to solving the housing crisis
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tHE HOUSING CRISIS
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